Sunday, March 08, 2015

Once again, someone from another bloody country tells us

that our 1st Amendment should actually mean 'except when your speech is hate speech, then you can go to jail for it.'
...The United Nations, the European Union, and the Council of Europe all
require member countries to institute strong laws against hate speech.
Every single human rights group in existence strongly supports hate
speech laws and continually works to have them expanded. All countries
now have laws against hate speech.

All countries, that is, except for the United States.
And here we go. Tell me, how much speech about damn near ANYTHING could be banned under this?Civilized, human rights-based countries not only have laws against hate
speech, but also laws against things like insults, Holocaust denial,
voicing approval of terrorist attacks, indecent depictions of violence,
disparaging the memory of deceased persons, the dissemination of
offensive ideas, and other forms of speech that violate the basic human
rights and human dignity of others.
INSULTS, for Gods' sake... Gee, Silverstein, who gets to define all this? Is saying "Hitler and Stalin were both murdering, torturing, racist socialist bastards" an insult, or does that get a pass(wouldn't surprise me if the Hitler part is ok, but stating facts about Stalin would be out of bounds)?

What many Americans don’t seem to understand is that failing to pass
laws against hate speech not only violates fundamental human rights, but
also explicitly violates international law. The US has signed and
ratified the ICCPR and the ICERD and, as such, is required to implement
sanctions on hate speech.
Bullshit; the treaties were signed, but the part about restricting speech were reserved, because THEY VIOLATE OUR CONSTITUTION AND RIGHTS. Deal with it.

And this is priceless:Like any intelligent and sensible person, I have always been a dedicated
champion of freedom of speech, especially when it’s speech that many
people do not want to hear. To quote Voltaire, “I disapprove of what you
say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
BUT,
like all rights, it comes with many responsibilities and it must be
used constructively. ...As any human rights lawyer can tell you, the human right to
freedom of speech must be balanced against other human rights, such as
the human rights to dignity, respect, and non-discrimination. Your
rights end where the rights of others begin.
Screw you. Your markers mean ANY speech that ANYONE finds somehow offensive can be banned. Which is why we tell you to go piss up a rope. Or take a long walk on a short dock. And other ways of saying 'Piss off'.

And then we get to some of the usual stuff we've come to expect:Thousands of people are killed each year because of the gun lobby’s
propaganda manipulating public opinion against sensible gun bans,...
Defending one of the basic enumerated rights in the Constitution is hate speech and should be banned.
Oh, and Silverstein? You just committed hate speech against people supporting the 2nd Amendment; what is your sentence?There isn’t a single person in Europe, Canada, Australia, or anywhere
else outside of America who thinks that there shouldn’t be ANY laws
against hate speech, vilification, or incitement to hatred.
Really? NOBODY else in the world believes unfettered speech is a good thing?Just like freedom of speech doesn’t protect death threats, freedom of
speech also doesn’t protect hateful, hurtful, or offensive speech.
A: As a defender of the 2nd Amendment and unfettered free speech, you offended me, bitch. Hie thyself off to jail.
B: Once more: who gets to define 'hateful, hurtful, or offensive'? You and the other nasty little nanny-state clowns?Why does the Japanese far-right respect fundamental human rights more than American “liberals” do?
They LIKE the idea of being able to restrict speech; actual liberals don't. Moron.Just as freedom of speech does not protect the right to shout “fire!” in
a crowded theater, it also should not protect the right to spout hatred
and intolerance, to oppose human rights, to perpetuate toxic systems of
privilege and oppression, or to argue against the common good.
A: You CAN shout that in a theater; if it's a false alarm, you can face penalties for it.
B: Again: WHO gets to define 'intolerance', 'hatred', 'toxic systems', and 'common good'? You mean it to be done by bigots and control freaks like yourself; no, thank you.

And now we get to one of the real prizes in this totalitarian wish list:One of the core aspects of human rights is that all rights and freedoms
are gifts granted to us from the United Nations and from human rights
law, and that all rights and freedoms must be balanced against other
rights and freedoms. Freedoms need to be restricted or removed when they
interfere with other freedoms. This is a principle that the United
States completely fails to understand.
Let me put this in bold: FUCK YOU. Our Constitution notes that rights such as free speech, the right to arms, the right to be safe from unreasonable search and seizure are OURS. They damn well do NOT come from the Gods-damned UN, and if the UN wants to take them away, fight's on, bitch. Especially when you want to shove this down our throats:
Freedom of speech exists so that citizens can have a civil, polite,
constructive, and respectful conversation about ideas worth discussing –
NOT so that privileged bigots can spew venomous hatred at the most
vulnerable and marginalized segments of society. Under the guise of
“freedom of speech,” America is giving a voice to people who should
never be heard in the first place.
Back to
A: WHO decides if an idea is worth discussing?
B: WHO decides who's the delicate flowers of 'vulnerable and marginalized' who can't survive hearing something they don't like?
C: The big one: WHO decides whether an idea SHOULD BE HEARD OR NOT?
You? The UN?
Fuck You, one and all.

More reason to say that with flourishes:Freedom of speech should never be a license to insult, offend,
disrespect, oppose human rights, undermine progress, or incite hatred.
Racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Holocaust
denial, climate change denial, vaccine denial, anti-feminism, cultural
appropriation, xenophobia, ableism, anti-multiculturalism, transphobia,
and all other forms of bigotry are not “thoughts” or “opinions.” They
are crimes, and all civilized countries already treat them as such.
Someone says something you don't like? Label it not a thought, but a crime. With people like this tyrant wannabe doing the defining and deciding. No, thank you.

The United Nations and human rights groups have stressed many times
that these laws do not in any way interfere with the sacred right to
freedom of speech.
Because anything they don't approve of is labeled 'Not speech, but a crime'.

By the way, the idea of allowing the UN, an organization known for corruption, turning away from actual horrible crimes(like the massacre in Rwanda), excusing tyrants, excusing hatred of Jews, 'peacekeepers' running child brothels and other activities the power to decide who can say what is horrifying.

Which is why we have some of those fine illustrations this idiot would put us in jail for displaying, such as

E-mail me

at elmtreeforge at att point net

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their consciences. - C.S. Lewis

Y'all got on this boat for different reasons, but y'all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything, I know this - they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten? They'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that. So no more runnin'. I aim to misbehave. - Capt. Mal

A Rifleman’s Prayer:Oh Lord, I would live my life in freedom, peace and happiness, enjoying the simple pleasures of hearth and home. I would die an old, old man in my own bed, preferably of sexual overexertion.

But if that is not to be, Lord, if monsters such as this should find their way to my little corner of the world on my watch, then help me to sweep those bastards from the ramparts, because doing that is good, and right, and just.

And if in this I should fall, let me be found atop a pile of brass, behind the wall I made of their corpses. Geek with a .45

"He's Black Council,", I said.

"Or maybe stupid," Ebenezar countered.

I thought about it. "Not sure which is scarier."

Ebenezar blinked at me, then snorted. "Stupid, Hoss. Every time. Only so many blackhearted villains in the world, and they only get uppity on occasion. Stupid's everywhere, every day." Ebenezar McCoy

“A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition” ― Rudyard Kipling

This deprecation of individual freedom was objectionable to me. I am convinced now, as I was then, that man is an end because he is a child of God. Man is not made for the state; the state is made for man. To deprive man of freedom is to relegate him to the status of a thing, rather than elevate him to the status of a person. Man must never be treated as means to the end of the state; but always as an end within himself." Dr. M.L. King Jr.